Foothill League track and field: W.R. track coach steps down

Saville leaving growing program due to time commitments

Last week, Golden Valley lost its head track and field coaches. Now, West Ranch faces a similar conundrum.

West Ranch head coach Dave Saville will step down at the end of the season, which will come after next weekend since the Wildcats have two athletes competing at the CIF State Track and Field Championships.

“The reason for the decision is basic time management,” said Saville, who runs his own business that supplies hardware and software to the film industry. “If you’re going to run a track team and run it properly, you’re looking at five hours a day, and I have my own business, and that’s suffering as a result of the amount of time I put in to do track and field properly.”

On average, Saville said he puts in almost five hours a day for the track and field program, which he acknowledges is just about a requirement in the ultra-competitive Foothill League.

Saville is certified by both the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association and United Kingdom Athletics, and he’s spent the last two seasons building the overall depth of the West Ranch program with his assistant coaches.

He’s been at West Ranch since the 2005-06 season, and upon taking over for former head coach Randy Smith in 2010, Saville implemented a tryout system for the track program to boost competition and eliminate what he has called “social” athletes.

The Wildcats have struggled as a team in both boys and girls at the varsity level, but they have several standout individual athletes, and the JV and frosh/soph levels have been successful.

“From one perspective, it’s a very good time to step away,” Saville said. “We’ve laid some very good ground rules to run the team. The tryout system we have is working.”

Senior runner Ashley Welker and senior thrower Nick Bultman will take part in the 800-meter race and the shot put, respectively, at this weekend’s state meet.

Saville said there are no frontrunners to take over the position as of yet.